Choosing a Monastery

[convivium]

What should one look for in choosing a monastery, and a preceptor?

[Goofaholix]

What should one look for in choosing a monastery, and a preceptor?

The same kinds of things you look for when looking for a long term living situation, or job, or house, or partner.

Somewhere where you feel comfortable, somewhere where you fit in, somewhere where the style of practice fits in with what you are looking for, somewhere that is going to challenge you, somewhere that has a teacher you respect, somewhere where you'd like to learn the culture, somewhere that will open up future opportunities for you, somewhere that won't aggravate any health problems you may have...

Depending on your circumstance I'd say somewhere far from home, as being too close to home is likely to have too much of a pull on you.

[Cittasanto]

What should one look for in choosing a monastery, and a preceptor?

I posted an attachment here which may help
viewtopic.php?t=3401&p=49343#p49343

[BlackBird]

- A supportive, encouraging and dilligent community who have their heads screwed on properly.

[Cittasanto]

- A supportive, encouraging and dilligent community who have their heads screwed on properly.

[convivium]

ajahn thanissaro suggested as the most important thing: a teacher you can trust and strong vinaya.

- A supportive, encouraging and dilligent community who have their heads screwed on properly.

well said. how can we perceive this without staying for some time? is it possible or reasonable to stay as an anagarika and then leave and do the same at different monasteries? there's a story about a guy in korea who really liked being an early initiate and doing all the hard work, so he just kept doing it, being well respected in each monastery, and just moving from monastery to monastery.

"somewhere that will open up future opportunities for you"

future opportunities?

[Goofaholix]

well said. how can we perceive this without staying for some time? is it possible or reasonable to stay as an anagarika and then leave and do the same at different monasteries?

Of course.

future opportunities?

Some monasteries have a lot of branch monasteries around the world, some have opportunities for different styles of practice like living in a cave in a remote mountain for example. I think it's important to consider what you want to be doing after 5 years when you have the freedom to move around more, you might be happy to ordain with your favourite teacher in Burma for example but do you want to be stuck there for 5 years? 10 years?

[convivium]

Some monasteries have a lot of branch monasteries around the world, some have opportunities for different styles of practice like living in a cave in a remote mountain for example. I think it's important to consider what you want to be doing after 5 years when you have the freedom to move around more, you might be happy to ordain with your favourite teacher in Burma for example but do you want to be stuck there for 5 years? 10 years?

you give any examples? i know there's the ajahn mun lineage vs. ajahn chah lineage and the monasteries all over thailand... what would be some you'd recommend?

[cooran]

Hello convivium, all,

Worldwide Monasteries of the Thai Forest Sangha
http://www.forestsangha.org/index.php?o ... 0&Itemid=9

with metta
Chris

[convivium]

Between Maha Nikaya and Dhammayuttika Nikaya you'd recommend the former for this reason? There's a teacher in Thailand named Ajahn Dick in the Dhammayuttika that i was pointed towards from Wat Metta. All the other students of Ajahn Mun are in Dhammayut. Ajahn Mun told Ajahn Chah not to switch lineages so all those monasteries are Maha Nikaya like most of Thailand...

[jcsuperstar]

are you saying you want, specifically, a thai forest monastery?

[convivium]

specifically to some extent, but also open to other traditions, especially non-commentarial traditions. i really like milarepa...

[jcsuperstar]

well milarepa was Tibetan so completely different... maybe it would help to first settle on what exactly you want to study. how long have you been seriously studying Buddhism?

[tiltbillings]

specifically to some extent, but also open to other traditions, especially non-commentarial traditions. i really like milarepa...

Ah, Milarepa, one of the founding dad's of the Kagdyu school. All the schools of Tibetan Buddhism expect some degree of learning specific to their school that goes along with the practice. If you want an orthopraxic rather than an orthodoxic school, maybe Japanese Zen, but even they have their particular type of study that goes along with their practice. The other major orthopraxic school would be the Ajahn Chah "lineage," which uses a careful observance of the Vinaya as a central form of practice, which means there will be some degree of study of those texts. Even if a tradition does not follow the poor maligned traditional commentaries, that does not mean they are free of a point of view as to what is what and there is always some expectation of some degree of adherence to that point of view.

[convivium]

The other major orthopraxic school would be the Ajahn Chah "lineage," which uses a careful observance of the Vinaya as a central form of practice, which means there will be some degree of study of those texts.

i still feel a connection to abhayagiri, and ajahn chah tradition. also dhammayut and maha boowa, ajahn lee lineages. i had my first foray into the dhamma a few years ago and practiced in the goenka tradition.

[convivium]

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... nance.html
it's articles like that.. thots that we must follow the eightfold path at least foundational seeing that it works, that keeps me in therevada sutta-based traditions. the possibility of encountering teachers in the internal worlds that can teach these other practices and perspectives is fine enough to not worry about it for now. that's where most teachers and all their initiations are found. if one day this is necessary or i am moved to do more then it will come. i was thinking about going to http://www.garchen.org for now the foundations of therevada are more than sufficient.

[tiltbillings]

. i was thinking about going to http://www.garchen.org for now the foundations are more than sufficient...

So, you are looking at the Theravada as a "foundational" practice in preparation for?

[convivium]

therevada is called foundational to those (vajrayana, tantrayana, bodhisattva) practices and perspectives. therevada is all we need for total parinibbana which is the only ultimate end.

[tiltbillings]

therevada is called foundational to those (vajrayana, tantrayana, bodhisattva) practices and perspectives. therevada is all we need for total parinibbana which is the only ultimate end.

No. For the "vajrayana, tantrayana, bodhisattva practices" is the hinayana/shravakayana that they refer to as the "foundation." As Reginald Ray states in his Indestructible Truth:

In fact, as we shall see presently, "Hinayana" refers to a critical but strictly limited set of views, practices, and results. The pre-Mahayana historical traditions such as the Theravada are far richer, more complex, and more profound than the definition of "Hinayana" would allow. ...The tern "Hinayana" is thus a stereotype that is useful in talking about a particular stage on the Tibetan Buddhist path, but it is really not appropriate to assume that the Tibetan definition of Hinayana identifies a venerable living tradition as the Theravada or any other historical school.." Page 240.

The Theravada is a path to full awakening, no different from that of the Buddha, which is why at times in the Pali suttas the arahant is called tathagata and buddha.

[convivium]

true. kagyu, etc is concerned with the creation of the subtle bodies, varjrasattva, etc. for the bodhisattva path. http://sacred-sex.org/buddhism/